Improvement in earth-closets



www wfg l ad ma UnTTnD STATES PATENT @anion JAMES ADDIZON BRAKE, OF NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA, ASSIGNOR TO WILLIAM R. O. CLARK, OF SAME PLAGE.

IMPROVEMENT IN Speeilication forming part of Letters Patent No. 105,053, dated July 5, 1870.

I, JAMns ADDIzoN BRAKE, of New Orleans, Louisiana, have made a certain Improvement in Earth-Closets, of which the following is a specification:

My invention has for its object to precipitate the deodorizing substance or powder iny given and sufficient quantity on each depositv of excreta within the closet; and it consists of a rectangular chute leading from the hopper of such a closet in which said substance is stored to a point which will insure the fall of said substance on the excreta, in combination with skeleton measuring-box sliding transversely across it, and operated by means of the cover or lid of the seat of the closet through the agency of a simple mechanical arrangement connecting it with said seat in a direct or positive manner.

My invention is of such exceeding simplicity of character thatit will be instantly and clearly understood when described with reference to the accompanying drawing, whereon all the parts of which it is composed and by which it is operated are shown, in connection with an earth-closet, a portion of the chute, however, bein g broken away, in order to bring into view the skeleton transverse working box for delivering the dry earth or other deodorizing powder, as the case may be, in regulated and prescribed quantity on each deposit of fecal matter within the closet.

On the drawing, A is the hopper to contain the deodorizin g or absorbent substance in sufcient measure to last for several days at least, or, if the closet be stationary, for several weeks; and B, a chute of rectangular form leading from said hopper to a point to be ascertained by experiment or calculation, which will cause the deodorizing agent as it falls therefrom to be precipitated on the excreta after each deposition ofthe same within the closet.

A rectangular opening is made on each side of the chute B, at points exactly opposite each other, by cutting away the sides of the same to receive a rectangular skeleton box, O, exactly conforming in size to said openings, as shown. The length of the box C should be about one-third greater than the width of the chute B, in order that the ends of the same may project alternately outside the chute suficicntly to throw out the delivery-aperture when that for receiving is within the said chute, and vice versa, and thus to prevent the passage of the deodorizing substance through said box, except when the closet is used.

The apertures to which I have just referred are near the opposite ends, and on the opposite sides ofthe said box G, as shown at a a', the former being the receiving and the latter the delivery opening of said box. At one end, on the drawing, (this end is that at which the delivery is made,) an arm, b, is secured, while to the seat-cover is attached a short standard, c, which is provided with a wrist-pin, on which a link, d, is fitted or is placed by means of an elongated slot at one of its ends. The other end of the link d is connected with the arm b in such. manner as to articulate therein, and hence becomes, in connection with said standard and wrist-pin and arm, a means by which the box O is caused to have a reciprocating motion, so as, when the cover of the seat of the closet is down or shut, the opening a -will be without or outside the chute B, 'and when it is open or raised `the opening a will occupy that position. To attain this result it will of course be understood that the link cl and standard c must be proportioned and placed with especial reference to the production of an endwise movement of the box C in both directions, which will bring' each of its ends alternately in line with the sides of the chute B.

Under these conditions it will be seen that the operation of my invention is very simple, for that when the closet is to be used the rais ing of the cover moves the box C so as to bring the opening a within the chute B, and therefore in position to permit the deodorizin g substance from the hopper to pass into the box under the iniiuence of its own gravity, and that when the cover is shut down again on the seat the box is moved in the opposite direction, so as to throw the opening' a outside the chute and bring the opening a within 1t,

so as to deliver the said substance on the fecal v matter that has just been deposited.

' To secure the delivery and prevent the banking up of the deodorizin g agent at any point within the box C, or the waste of any of the same in the practice of the invention, bullo heads must be placed within said box in the line or" the sides of the chute B, or, in other Words, the sides of the box C must move through two separate incisions on opposite sides of the chute, which are just sufficiently Wider than the said sides to make the reciprocating traverse of the box easy in the practice of the invention.

On the drawing, the chute B occupies a relation to the vertical and longitudinal lines of the closet approximating to an angle of fortyiive degrees; but, obviously, this relation may be varied almost indeinitely, since the only necessary condition connected therewith is that there shall be sufficient inclination to secure the descent through the chute of the deodorizing substance by its own gravity. So, also, although on the drawing the mechanism shown to operate the box G requires that the cover of the seat shall be hinged at the side of the seat, it is obvious that a very slight modification of the saine will enable me to hinge the cover at the rear of .the seat, and yet Work the box with equal facility.

In order to remove, from time to time, as

occasion may require, the receptacle in which the excreta is deposited and deodorized, I have contrived a very simple mode of holding in its place the removable front of the closet below the seat thereof. This mode consists of one or more pins in the top edge of the removable front, which take in holes in the cross-bar overlying said edge, as shown by dotted lines at N; lbut for reasons satisfactory to myself, I do not choose, at this time, to prefer a claim therefor.

I claim as my invention- The chute B, in combinationwith a sliding skeleton box, C, when both these parts are constructed and united as herein described, and the said Vbox G is operated by the means gndhiu the mode specified, for the purpose set ort JAMES ADDIZON DRAKE.

Witnesses EMILE H. LEvY, F. R. PLACE. 

